John Adams > Quotes

“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”
― John Adams

“Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.”
― John Adams

“Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.”
― John Adams

“A government of laws, and not of men”
― John Adams

“Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”
― John Adams

“Thanks to God that he gave me stubbornness when I know I am right”
― John Adams

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other... The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People... they may change their Rulers, and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty... A Constitution of Government once changed from freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”
― John Adams

“There are two types of people, those who make commitments and those who keep them.”
― John Adams

“I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.

Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”
― John Adams

“Europe, thou great theater of arts, sciences, commerce, war, am I at last permitted to visit thy territories?”
― John Adams

“The true source of our suffering has been our timidity. We have been afraid to think... Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write... Let it be known that British liberties are not the grants of princes or parliaments.”
― John Adams

“Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictums of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
― John Adams

“To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.”
― John Adams

“I refuse to suffer in silence. I sighed, sobbed, and groaned, and sometimes screeched and screamed. and I must confess to my shame and sorrow that I sometimes swore.”
― John Adams

“I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading.”
― John Adams

“I read my eyes out and can’t read half enough. The more one reads the more one sees we have to read.”
― John Adams

“As I understand the christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?”
― John Adams

“Poets read history to collect flowers, not fruits.”
― John Adams

“What is the Cause of Procrastination? To day my Stomack is disordered, and my Thoughts of Consequence, unsteady and confused. I can't study today but will begin tomorrow. Tomorrow comes. Well, I feel pretty well, my head is pretty clear, but Company comes in. I can't yet study tomorrow, but will begin in earnest next day. Next day comes. We are out of Wood, I can't study: because I can't keep a fire.”
― John Adams

“The Bible contains the revelation of the will of God.  It contains the history of the creation of the world, and of mankind; and afterward the history of one peculiar nation, certainly the most extraordinary nation that has ever appeared upon the earth.”
― John Adams, Build Upon the Rock: Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son on the Bible and Its Teachings

“But what do We mean by the American Revolution? Do We mean the American War? The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the Minds and Hearts of the People. A Change in their Religious Sentiments of their Duties and Obligations.”
― John Adams

“The true source of our suffering has been our timidity. We have been afraid to think. . . . Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”
― John Adams

“Since my Arrival this time I have driven about Paris, more than I did before. The rural Scenes around this Town are charming. The public Walks, Gardens, &c. are extreamly beautifull. The Gardens of the Palais Royal, the Gardens of the Tuilleries, are very fine. The Place de Louis 15, the Place Vendome or Place de Louis 14, the Place victoire, the Place royal, are fine Squares, ornamented with very magnificent statues. I wish I had time to describe these objects to you in a manner, that I should have done, 25 Years ago, but my Head is too full of Schemes and my Heart of Anxiety to use Expressions borrowed from you know whom.

To take a Walk in the Gardens of the Palace of the Tuilleries, and describe the Statues there, all in marble, in which the ancient Divinities and Heroes are represented with exquisite Art, would be a very pleasant Amusement, and instructive Entertainment, improving in History, Mythology, Poetry, as well as in Statuary. Another Walk in the Gardens of Versailles, would be usefull and agreable. But to observe these Objects with Taste and describe them so as to be understood, would require more time and thought than I can possibly Spare. It is not indeed the fine Arts, which our Country requires. The Usefull, the mechanic Arts, are those which We have occasion for in a young Country, as yet simple and not far advanced in Luxury, altho perhaps much too far for her Age and Character.

I could fill Volumes with Descriptions of Temples and Palaces, Paintings, Sculptures, Tapestry, Porcelaine, &c. &c. &c. -- if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty. The Science of Government it is my Duty to study, more than all other Studies Sciences: the Art of Legislation and Administration and Negotiation, ought to take Place, indeed to exclude in a manner all other Arts. I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Painting and Poetry Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.”
― John Adams

“Upon common theaters, he said, the applause of the audience is of more importance to the actor than his own approbation. But upon the stage of life, while conscience claps, let the world hiss.”
― John Adams

“Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private virtue”
― John Adams

“I read my eyes out and can’t read half enough neither. The more one reads the more one sees we have to read.”
― John Adams

“To be good and to do good, is all we have to do.”
― John Adams, The Letters of John and Abigail Adams

“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”
― John Adams

“It is the Will of Heaven, that the two Countries should be sundered forever. It may be the Will of Heaven that America shall suffer Calamities still more wasting and Distresses yet more dreadful. If this is to be the Case, it will have this good Effect, at least: it will inspire Us with many Virtues, which We have not, and correct many Errors, and Vices, which threaten to disturb, dishonor, and destroy Us. – The Furnace of Affliction produces Refinement, in States as well as Individuals…. But I must submit all my Hopes and Fears to an overruling Providence, in which, unfashionable as the Faith may be, I firmly believe.”
― John Adams

“If ever there was a body of men who merited eternal damnation on earth and in hell, it is this Society of (Ignatius de) Loyola.”
― John Adams